WO2019146895A1

WO2019146895A1 - Cable modem apparatus and control method thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2019146895A1
Application number: PCT/KR2018/014488
Authority: WO
Inventors: 심재규
Original assignee: 삼성전자(주)
Priority date: 2018-01-29
Filing date: 2018-11-23
Publication date: 2019-08-01
Also published as: KR20190091595A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a cable modem apparatus. The cable modem may comprise: a cable connection unit connectable to a cable network; a plurality of device connection units connectable to a plurality of devices; and at least one signal processing unit, the at least one signal processing unit configured to transmit a first packet of signals, received from the cable network through the cable connection unit, to a broadcast receiver connected to the device connection units, transmit a second packet of signals received from the broadcast receiver to the cable network, and in response to a third packet received from a first device connected to the device connection units, selectively process the third packet depending on whether the destination of the third packet is the cable modem apparatus or the broadcast receiver. Thus, when the cable modem apparatus uses available resources to process a packet of a general user terminal, it is possible to appropriately process the packet of a set-top box for receiving the cable broadcasting service so as not to be lost, thereby preventing degradation of the performance of the cable modem apparatus and the efficiency of the cable communication network.

Description

Cable modem device and control method thereof

The present invention relates to a cable modem apparatus and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a cable modem apparatus and a control method thereof, in which a user terminal enables a cable broadcasting service or data communication using a cable network.

The cable modem device is a device that allows a user terminal to receive a cable broadcasting service using a cable network or to perform data communication with an external device such as a server. The cable modem apparatus converts a cable signal transmitted from a cable network into an IP-based packet and transmits the IP-based packet to a user terminal, converts a packet transmitted from the user terminal into a cable signal, and transmits the cable signal to the cable network.

At the end of the cable network, a CMTS (Cable Modem Termination System) such as a cable broadcasting provider or an Internet service provider (Inter Service Provider) may be provided. The CMTS transmits IP packets for cable broadcasting service and data communication service as cable signals And transmit it to the cable modem device via the cable network.

The cable modem apparatus can provide a cable broadcasting service and a data communication service by converting a cable signal received from the CMTS through a cable network into an IP packet and appropriately processing it in a state of being stored in a buffer and a memory.

The user terminal that can be connected to the cable modem device may be a TV set-top box for receiving a cable broadcasting service or the like. However, not only such a set-top box but also a general user terminal such as a PC, a smart phone, and the like, which intends to use a data communication service such as the Internet by utilizing the routing function of the cable modem device, can be connected to the cable modem device.

However, when the cable modem apparatus uses available resources for processing packets of a general user terminal, the packets of the set-top box for receiving the cable broadcasting service are not properly processed or lost so that the performance of the cable modem apparatus and the cable The efficiency of the communication network is deteriorated.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cable modem apparatus that appropriately processes a packet of a set-top box for receiving a cable broadcasting service so as not to be lost when a cable modem apparatus uses available resources for processing a packet of a general user terminal, And to provide a cable modem apparatus and a control method thereof that can prevent degradation of the performance of the apparatus and the efficiency of the cable communication network.

The above-mentioned object is achieved by a cable connector comprising: a cable connection portion connectable to a cable network; A plurality of device connection units to which a plurality of devices can be connected; A first packet of a signal received from the cable network through the cable connection unit is transmitted to a broadcast receiver connected to the device connection unit and a signal of a second packet received from the broadcast receiver is transmitted to the cable network, At least one signal processor for selectively processing the third packet according to whether the destination of the third packet is the cable modem device or the broadcast receiver, corresponding to a third packet received from a first device connected to the device connection part, The present invention can be achieved by a cable modem apparatus comprising:

Here, the at least one signal processing unit performs TCP / IP processing on the third packet in correspondence with the destination of the third packet being the cable modem apparatus or the broadcast receiver, and the destination of the third packet is It may not perform TCP / IP processing on the third packet corresponding to the cable modem apparatus or the broadcast receiver.

Here, the third packet may be a broadcast packet.

Here, the at least one signal processing unit may transmit a signal of the third packet to the cable network in response to the destination of the third packet being an external device connected through the cable network.

Here, the at least one signal processing unit stores the received third packet in a memory when the third packet is received from a first device connected to the device connection unit, and a destination of the third packet is stored in the cable modem device Or may delete the third packet from the memory in response to a non-broadcast receiver.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control method of a cable modem apparatus having a cable connection unit that can be connected to a cable network and a plurality of device connection units to which a plurality of devices can be connected, Transmitting a first packet to a broadcast receiver connected to the device connection; Causing a signal of a second packet received from the broadcast receiver to be transmitted to the cable network; And selectively processing the third packet according to whether the destination of the third packet is the cable modem device or the broadcast receiver, corresponding to a third packet received from a first device connected to the device connection portion. And a control method of the cable modem apparatus.

The step of selectively processing the third packet may include performing TCP / IP processing on the third packet corresponding to the destination of the third packet being the cable modem apparatus or the broadcast receiver, And not performing TCP / IP processing on the third packet corresponding to the destination of the third packet being not the cable modem apparatus or the broadcast receiver.

Here, the third packet may be a broadcast packet.

The method may further include transmitting a signal of the third packet to the cable network in response to the destination of the third packet being an external device connected through the cable network.

The step of selectively processing the third packet may include storing the received third packet in a memory when the third packet is received from a first device connected to the device connection unit, And deleting the third packet from the memory corresponding to the cable modem apparatus or the broadcast receiver.

Therefore, according to the present invention, when the cable modem apparatus uses available resources for processing a packet of a general user terminal, it appropriately processes packets of a set-top box for receiving a cable broadcasting service so as not to be lost, And deterioration of the efficiency of the cable communication network can be prevented.

1 is an illustration of a cable communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram of the cable modem apparatus of FIG.

3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a signal processing unit according to the present embodiment.

4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a program executed by the processor according to the present embodiment.

5 shows a control method of the cable modem apparatus according to the present embodiment.

6 shows an example of a packet transmission path in operation S51 shown in Fig.

7 and 8 show an example of a packet transmission path in the operations S52 to S57 shown in FIG.

Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. At least one of the plurality of configurations in this specification refers not only to all of the plurality of configurations, but also to each one or a combination thereof excluding the rest of the plurality of configurations.

1 shows a cable modem apparatus according to the present embodiment. 1, the cable modem apparatus 3 according to the present embodiment is provided between a cable network 2 and a set-top box 4 and

user terminals

6 and 7 to relay and transmit data between them. do. 1 shows the cable modem apparatus 3 in a configuration different from that of the set-top box 4 and the

user terminals

6 and 7, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The cable modem apparatus 3 may include a set- Or may be included in any one of the

user terminals

6 and 7. A display device such as the TV 5 may be connected to the set-top box 4.

The cable modem device 3 can bridge and route incoming signals. For example, the cable modem apparatus 3 may receive a cable signal from the cable network 2, the destination of which is the set-top box 4 or the

user terminal

6,7. In this case, the cable modem apparatus 3 can obtain an IP-based data packet (hereinafter briefly referred to as a packet) from the cable signal. The cable modem apparatus 3 can store a routing table to be referred to for selecting an optimal path according to a destination of a packet and can select an optimal transmission path for a packet acquired based on the routing table . The cable modem apparatus 3 can transmit the packet to the set-top box 4 or the

user terminals

6 and 7 on the basis of the IP through the selected transmission path.

In addition, the cable modem apparatus 3 can receive IP-based packets from the set-top box 4 or the

user terminals

6, 7, which are destinations of external devices such as servers or other user terminals. In this case, the cable modem apparatus 3 can transmit the packet received to the cable network 2 or another user terminal through the optimum transmission path selected based on the routing table. If the destination of the packet is the cable modem apparatus 3, the cable modem apparatus 3 can process the packet by itself.

The set-top box 4 receives a packet transmitted from the cable modem apparatus 3 and can transmit a video signal based on the received packet to the TV 5. The TV 5 is connected to the set-top box 4 and can display a video based on the video signal received from the set-top box 4 to provide a cable broadcasting service. For example, the TV 5 can provide news, movies, sports, drama, home shopping, religion, games, and educational broadcasting services. Although the set-top box 4 is shown as being separate from the TV 5 in FIG. 1, the set-top box 4 is not limited thereto and the set-top box 4 may be integrated with the TV 5.

The

user terminals

6 and 7 may be connected to the cable modem apparatus 3 by wire or wireless, and may exchange various information and packets to provide various data communication services. For example, the data communication service may include various additional data communication services such as karaoke, VOD (Video on Demand), Internet search, Internet phone, and the like. The

user terminals

6 and 7 may include not only a desktop computer, IPTV, and a wired VoIP telephone but also a wired terminal 6 which is a home appliance such as a washing machine, air conditioner and a refrigerator having a wired communication function. , A tablet, a wearable device, a wireless VoIP telephone, and the like, but is not limited to the wireless terminal 7, which is an information communication terminal having a wireless communication function.

2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a cable modem apparatus according to the present embodiment. 2, the cable modem apparatus 3 according to the present embodiment may include a cable connection unit 10, a signal processing unit 20, and a device connection unit 30. However, the present invention is not limited to this, so that the cable modem apparatus 3 may exclude any one of the above configurations or add other configurations not shown.

The cable modem apparatus 3 can receive a cable signal transmitted from the cable network 2 or transmit a cable signal to the cable network 2 via a cable connection 10 connected to the cable network 2 by a coaxial cable have. The cable modem apparatus 3 is connected to the set top box 4 and the

user terminals

6 and 7 through a set top box 4 and a device connecting unit 30 connected to the

user terminals

6 and 7 by wire or wireless. And various information and packets.

The signal processing unit 20 can perform processing for bridging and routing a cable signal received through the cable connection unit 10 and a packet received through the device connection unit 30. [ For example, the signal processing unit 20 can receive a cable signal through which the destination is the set-top box 4 or the

user terminal

6, 7 via the cable connection unit 10. In this case, the signal processing unit 20 can demodulate the cable signal and convert the demodulated cable signal into an IP-based packet. Then, the signal processing unit 20 selects an optimal transmission path for the converted packet based on the routing table, and transmits the packet to the set-top box 4 or the

user terminal

6 or 7 as a destination along the selected transmission path .

Also, the signal processing unit 20 can receive a packet from the

user terminal

6, 7 via the device connection unit 30, which is an external device such as a server or another user terminal. The signal processing unit 20 can convert a packet whose destination is a server into a cable signal and transmit the cable signal to the cable network 1 according to the optimum transmission path selected based on the routing table, To another user terminal along the optimal transmission path selected based on the routing table. If the destination is a packet that is the cable modem apparatus 3, the signal processing section 20 can process the packet by itself.

When the destination of the packet received through the device connection unit 30 is specified, for example, in the case of a unicast packet or a multicast packet, the signal processing unit 20 can perform the bridging and routing processing on the packet have.

In particular, the signal processing unit 20 according to the present embodiment may not perform the bridging and routing processing on the broadcast packet when a broadcast packet whose destination is not specified through the device connection unit 30 is received. For example, when receiving broadcast packets from the

user terminals

6 and 7 through the device connection unit 30, the signal processing unit 20 converts the broadcast packets into cable signals, selects and transmits the optimum transmission path, I can not. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and at least one bridging and routing process performed in the case of a unicast packet or a multicast packet may not be performed for the broadcast packet.

As described above, the signal processing unit 20 according to the present embodiment selectively performs bridging and routing according to whether the packet received through the device connection unit 30 is a broadcast packet, and thus is reduced due to the processing on the broadcast packet So that packets for receiving other packets, for example, a cable broadcasting service, can be prevented from being lost due to improper processing, and the performance of the cable modem apparatus 3 and the performance of the cable communication It is possible to prevent the efficiency of the entire network 1 from being lowered.

The signal processing unit 20 can bridge and route the broadcast packet to the cable network 1 when receiving the broadcast packet from the

user terminal

6 or 7 through the device connection unit 30. [ This is because, due to the bridging and routing processing for the broadcast packet, a packet for receiving the cable broadcasting service is not properly processed or lost, and the performance of the cable modem apparatus 3 or the efficiency of the entire cable communication network 1 It is unlikely to deteriorate.

3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a signal processing unit according to the present embodiment. 3, the signal processing unit 20 according to the present embodiment includes a cable modem chip 310, a memory 321, a memory control unit 322, a nonvolatile memory 323, an input / output control unit 324, A processor 330, and at least one NIC (Network Interface Card) 344, 345, which may be coupled to at least one bus (Bus 320). However, the signal processing unit 20 may exclude at least one of the above configurations, or may add other configurations other than the above configurations. For example, the signal processing unit 20 may further include a tuner for tuning to a cable signal of at least one channel among cable signals of a plurality of channels.

The cable modem chip 310 may include a demodulator 311, a data processor 312, and a modulator 313. The demodulating unit 311 can demodulate the cable signal received through the cable connecting unit 10 and the data processing unit 312 can convert the demodulated cable signal into a packet in the demodulating unit 311. [ The data processing unit 312 converts the received packet into a cable signal and the modulating unit 313 converts the received packet into a cable signal and transmits the packet to the data processing unit 312. [ It is possible to modulate the converted cable signal. However, since the function of the cable modem chip 310 is not limited to the above, it may further include filtering and address verification of the received signal or packet.

The memory 321 may be implemented as a main memory, a volatile memory such as a buffer, a RAM, a DRAM, or the like, and may be configured to load a program executed by the processor 330 so that the processor 330 can read and execute the program, And may store data to be processed or processed according to an instruction of a program executed by the processor 330. [ In one example, the memory 321 stores packets converted by the cable modem chip 310 or packets received via the at least one

NIC

344, 345 and may be processed by the processor 330.

The memory control unit 322 is connected to the memory 321 to read data stored in the memory 321 or to store data in the memory 321 by the processor 330 or at least one NIC 344, Accessible. Particularly, the memory controller 322 includes a direct memory access (DMA) function so that other devices such as at least one

NIC

344 and 345 can access the memory 321 without involvement of the processor 330 So that it can be done efficiently. In this case, during processing of the processor 330's packet, the memory controller 322 may store the packet in the memory 321 or delete the stored packet upon request of another device such as at least one

NIC

344, 345 have.

The nonvolatile memory 323 may be implemented as a ROM, a flash memory, an HDD, or the like, and may store various programs and information that the processor 330 executes. For example, a program for the bridge function and the router function performed by the processor 330, information for operating the cable modem apparatus 10, Media Access Control (MAC) address information of the cable modem apparatus 10, The MAC address information of the user terminal 4 and the

user terminals

6 and 7, and channel frequency table information.

The at least one

NIC

344 and 345 may be implemented as a LAN (local area network) card, a LAN chip, or a network adapter connected to the set-top box 4 and the

user terminals

6 and 7, And the packet received from the

user terminals

6 and 7 and converted into data of a type that can be processed by the processor 330 or stores data processed by the processor 330, And data of a form that can be processed by the

user terminal

6, 7.

Processor 330 may control the overall configuration of cable modem device 3. For example, the processor 330 may selectively bridge and route packets received via the cable modem chip 310 or the NIC 345. In particular, processor 330 may delete packets received via NIC 345 and stored in memory 321.

As described above, the processor 330 selectively bridges and routes the received broadcast packet, thereby improving the storage efficiency of the memory 321 and the processing efficiency of the processor 330, So that the performance of the cable modem apparatus 3 and the overall efficiency of the cable communication network 1 can be prevented from deteriorating.

Meanwhile, the processor 330 according to the present embodiment may execute the instructions of the programs 110 to 140 in order to perform the above-described operations, and descriptions of the programs 110 to 140 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4 do.

4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a program executed by the processor according to the present embodiment. 4, the program executed by the processor 330 according to the present embodiment includes a driver 110, a bridge 120, a network communication 130, and a kernel 140. [ However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a program combining at least two of the above programs or a program can be divided into two or more programs.

The driver 110 of the present embodiment may include a cable modem driver 410 and an Ethernet driver 450. The bridge 120 of the present embodiment may include a modem bridge 420 and a set-top box bridge 430. Hereinafter, the operations performed by the processor 330 according to the present embodiment by executing the instructions of the programs 110 to 140 may be described in the form of operating the programs 110 to 140 for convenience of explanation.

The cable modem driver 410 and the Ethernet driver 450 control the cable modem chip 310 and the NIC 345 to be drivable, respectively. The cable modem driver 410 and the Ethernet driver 450 interface between the modem bridge 420 and the cable modem chip 310 and between the modem bridge 420 and the NIC 345, respectively.

The modem bridge 420 may analyze the address of a packet received by the cable modem device 3 or transmitted from the cable modem device 3 and relayed so that the packet can reach the destination. The modem bridge 420 includes a first port 421 and a second port 422 corresponding to the network communication 130 which is an upper program of the system, a third port 423 corresponding to the set-top box bridge 430, A fourth port 451 corresponding to the

terminals

6 and 7 and a fifth port 411 corresponding to the cable network 2 are provided and the packet is bridged to the port corresponding to the destination of the packet to be transmitted / And routing. For example, when a packet is received from the cable network 2 through the cable modem chip 310, the modem bridge 420 may receive the packet from the cable modem 2, if the destination of the packet is the cable modem device 3, And transmits the packet to the port 423 to which the modem set-top box bridge 430 is connected if the destination of the packet is the set-top box 4. [

On the other hand, when the modem bridge 420 according to the present embodiment receives a broadcast packet, the modem bridge 420 may not bridging and routing the received broadcast packet. For example, when receiving a broadcast packet from the

user terminal

6, 7 via the NIC 345, the modem bridge 420 forwards the broadcast packet from the first port 421 to the fourth port 451 I can not. However, even a broadcast packet received from the

user terminals

6 and 7 can be bridged and routed to the fifth port 411. [

The set-top box bridge 430 analyzes the address of packets transmitted from the modem bridge 420 through the third port 423 or received from the set-top box 4 and bridges and routes the packets so that they reach the destination . For example, when the set-top box bridge 430 receives a packet from the set-top box 4 via the third port 423 from the modem bridge 420, the set-top box bridge 430 transmits a TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol to the sixth port 431 corresponding to the upper network communication program 130 and forwards the TCP / IP processed packet to the seventh port 432 corresponding to the set-top box 4 .

In addition, when the set-top box bridge 430 receives a packet from the set-top box 4, if the destination of the packet is the cable modem device 3, the set-top box bridge 430 transmits the received packet to the sixth port 431 If the destination of the packet is an external device such as a server, the packet can be transmitted to the sixth port 431 corresponding to the upper network communication 130 program for TCP / IP processing on the packet. The TCP / IP processing To the third port 423 to which the modem bridge 420 is connected.

The network communication 130 performs TCP / IP processing on the transmitted packet. For example, the packet received from the bridge 120 may be converted into a data format that can be processed by the kernel 140, which is an upper program, and may be transferred to the kernel 140. In addition, the packet received from the kernel 140 can be converted into a data format that can be processed by the bridge 120, which is a sub-program, and can be transferred to the bridge 120. Here, the TCP processing is a function that divides a packet transmitted from a transmitting side of a packet into smaller packets and transmits the packet to a receiving side, and assembles the packet into original data at a destination receiving side. IP processing refers to the function of processing the address portion of each packet transmitted from the transmitting side of the packet so that the packet reaches the receiving side exactly as the destination. For example, the network communication 130 analyzes the header information of the packet received by the cable modem apparatus 3, and if the destination is the cable modem apparatus 3, removes the header information and transmits the header information to the kernel 140 To allow the kernel 140 to process the packet. If the destination is the set-top box 4 as a result of analyzing the header information of the received packet, the network communication 130 may add the header corresponding to the set-top box 4 to be transmitted to the set-top box 4 .

The kernel 140 is a core of the operating system of the cable modem apparatus 3 and provides a cable broadcasting service to the set top box 4 via the cable network 2 or a data communication service with the set top box 4, Ancillary services, such as service guidance, user request feedback, error monitoring and resolution, program updates, etc., can be provided to provide these services properly.

5 shows a control method of the cable modem apparatus according to the present embodiment. The control method of the cable modem apparatus of the present embodiment shown in Fig. 5 can be implemented by the processor 330 executing the instructions of the programs 110 to 140, as described in Fig.

Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, the control method implemented by the processor 330 of the embodiment by executing the instructions of the programs 110 to 140 will be described in the form of the operation of the signal processing unit 20. [ 5, the signal processing unit 20 of the cable modem apparatus 3 transmits a first packet of a signal received from the cable network 2 via the cable connection unit 10 to a settop Box 4 and transmits the signal of the second packet from the set-top box 4 to the cable network 2 (S51). Here, when the first packet and the second packet are unicast packets, the destination MAC address can be specified, so that the signal processing unit 20 sends the packet of the first signal from the cable network 2 to the set- And transmit the signal of the second packet from the set-top box 4 to the cable network 2. [

On the other hand, the signal processing unit 20 can receive the signal of the third packet from the

user terminal

6 or 7 connected to the device connection unit 30 (S52). If the destination of the third packet is an external device such as a server, The signal of the third packet can be transmitted to the cable network 2 (S54). If the destination of the third packet is the cable modem apparatus 3, the signal processing unit 20 can process the signal of the third packet (S56).

However, if the destination of the third packet received via the device connection 30 is not the cable network 2 or cable modem device 3, the signal processing section 20 may not process the signal of the third packet S57).

When the signal processing unit 20 selectively processes the third packet, when the signal processing unit 20 processes the packet of the set-top box 4 for receiving the cable broadcasting service, the packet of the set- So that the performance of the cable modem apparatus 3 and the efficiency of the cable communication network 1 can be prevented from deteriorating.

6 shows an example of a packet transmission path in operation S51 shown in Fig. As shown in FIG. 6, the cable modem apparatus 3 has at least one MAC address, for example, a first MAC address used for communication with the cable network 3, a

user terminal

6, 7, A second MAC address used for communication with the set-top box 4, and a third MAC address used for communication with the set- The modem bridge 420 according to the present embodiment can bridge and route packets along the path corresponding to the destination of the packet when the packet is received from the cable network 2. [

For example, when the destination MAC address of a packet received from the cable network 2 is a first MAC address, the modem bridge 420 transmits the received packet to the network communication 130, which is an upper program along the first path 610, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > 421 < / RTI > As another example, if the destination MAC address of the received packet is the MAC address of the set-top box 4, the modem bridge 420 may forward the received packet to the third port 423 to follow the second path 620 .

When the set-top box 430 receives a packet from the set-top box 4, the set-top box bridge 430 bridges and routes the packet along the path according to the destination of the packet. If the MAC address of the packet received from the set-top box 4 is a third MAC address, the set-top box bridge 430 transmits the received packet to the network communication 130 to the sixth port 431. In this case, In another example, if the destination of the received packet is the cable network 2, the set-top box bridge 430 forwards the received packet to the third port 423 to follow the fourth path 640, and the modem bridge 420 May bridging and routing packets received via the third port 423 to the cable network 2.

7 and 8 show an example of a packet transmission path in the operations S52 to S57 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, when the modem bridge 420 receives a packet from the

user terminals

6 and 7, it can bridge and route the packet according to the destination of the received packet. In one example, if the destination MAC address of a packet received from the

user terminal

6,7 is a second MAC address, the modem bridge 420 may route the packet to the network communication 130, which is an upper program along the first path 710 If the destination of the packet is an external device such as a server, the received packet is transmitted to the fifth port corresponding to the cable network 2 so as to follow the second path 720, (411).

As shown in FIG. 8, when the modem bridge 420 according to the present embodiment receives a broadcast packet from the

user terminals

6 and 7, it may not bridging and routing the received broadcast packet. For example, the modem bridge 420 may not transmit the broadcast packets received from the

user terminals

6 and 7 to the first port 421 to the fifth port 451.

The selective bridging and routing of the modem bridge 420 with respect to the broadcast packet will now be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 3 for the signal processing unit 20. The NIC 345 corresponding to the

user terminals

6 and 7 When a broadcast packet is input, the broadcast packet is stored in the memory in the NIC 345, and the broadcast packet can be transmitted to the main memory 321 by the DMA 322. [ Since the main memory 321 has an area in which packets are stored according to the received order, the main memory 321 can store the broadcast packets according to the received order.

The modem bridge 420 may determine whether the packet stored in the main memory 321 is subjected to bridging and routing processing. For example, when the packet stored in the main memory 321 is a broadcast packet, it may not process the broadcast packet. As a further example, modem bridge 420 may delete stored broadcast packets to prevent memory occupation by unnecessary packets in main memory 321. [

In this way, when the modem bridge 420 does not process the broadcast packet or deletes it from the memory 321, the modem bridge 420 can determine whether to process the packet received in the memory 321 later than the broadcast packet, As a result, the storage and processing efficiency of the modem bridge 420 is improved, and the performance of the cable modem apparatus 3 and the overall efficiency of the cable communication network 1 can be prevented from deteriorating.

On the other hand, if the packet stored in the main memory 321 is a broadcast packet, the modem bridge 420 can bridge and route to the fifth port 411 corresponding to the cable network 2. This is because the bridging and routing of the broadcast packet to the cable network 1 does not need to be performed by the network communication 130 or the network communication 130 which is a higher level program, , The performance of the cable modem apparatus 3, and the overall efficiency of the cable communication network 1 are low.

While the foregoing disclosure and advantages have been described with reference to specific embodiments and drawings, the disclosure and scope of rights of the invention are not so limited. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. It should be understood that the detailed description and drawings of the present invention are to be regarded as illustrative examples only and that various modified embodiments are within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

In a cable modem apparatus,

A cable connection portion connectable to the cable network;

A plurality of device connection units to which a plurality of devices can be connected;

A first packet of a signal received from the cable network through the cable connection unit is transmitted to a broadcast receiver connected to the device connection unit,

A signal of a second packet received from the broadcast receiver is transmitted to the cable network,

And selectively processing the third packet according to whether the destination of the third packet is the cable modem apparatus or the broadcast receiver, corresponding to a third packet received from the first apparatus connected to the apparatus connection unit

A cable modem apparatus comprising at least one signal processing unit.
The method according to claim 1,

Wherein the at least one signal processing unit performs TCP / IP processing on the third packet in correspondence with the destination of the third packet being the cable modem apparatus or the broadcast receiver, And does not perform TCP / IP processing for the third packet in correspondence with the modem device or the broadcast receiver.
The method according to claim 1,

Wherein the third packet is a broadcast packet.
The method of claim 3,

Wherein the at least one signal processing unit corresponds to a destination of the third packet being an external device connected through the cable network so that the signal of the third packet is transmitted to the cable network.
The method according to claim 1,

Wherein the at least one signal processing unit stores the received third packet in a memory when the third packet is received from a first device connected to the device connection unit, And deletes the third packet from the memory in correspondence with the non-broadcast receiver.
1. A control method of a cable modem apparatus having a cable connection section that can be connected to a cable network and a plurality of device connection sections to which a plurality of devices can be connected,

Passing a first packet of a signal received from the cable network through the cable connection to a broadcast receiver connected to the device connection;

Causing a signal of a second packet received from the broadcast receiver to be transmitted to the cable network; And

Selectively processing the third packet according to whether a destination of the third packet is the cable modem apparatus or the broadcast receiver, corresponding to a third packet received from a first apparatus connected to the apparatus connection unit;

Gt; a < / RTI > method of controlling a cable modem apparatus.
The method according to claim 6,

Wherein the step of selectively processing the third packet includes performing TCP / IP processing on the third packet corresponding to a destination of the third packet being the cable modem apparatus or the broadcast receiver, Further comprising not performing TCP / IP processing on the third packet corresponding to a destination of the third packet not corresponding to the cable modem apparatus or the broadcast receiver.
The method according to claim 6,

Wherein the third packet is a broadcast packet.
9. The method of claim 8,

Further comprising the step of causing a signal of the third packet to be transmitted to the cable network corresponding to the destination of the third packet being an external device connected through the cable network.
The method according to claim 6,

Wherein selectively processing the third packet includes storing the received third packet in a memory when the third packet is received from a first device connected to the device connection unit, Further comprising deleting, in the memory, the third packet corresponding to a modem device or not to the broadcast receiver.